Flashback: 1984 Orange Bowl

On Jan. 1, 1984, top-ranked Nebraska found itself behind 17-0 early to underdog Miami in the Orange Bowl.

The Cornhuskers needed something to get their spirits up, so coach Tom Osborne went to his bag of tricks, calling what is now known as the "fumblerooskie."

"We were in a situation where we were down a couple of touchdowns," offensive tackle Dean Steinkuhler said. "It kind of shocked me when the play came into the huddle. I was battling a little fatigue at the time, and I wasn't sure it would work."

The play, which has since been banned in college football, involved quarterback Turner Gill leaving the ball on the ground as if there had been a fumble. Steinkuhler, winner of the Outland and Lombardi trophies in 1983, picked up the ball and ran for a 19-yard touchdown while the crowd of 72,549 watched in amazement and the television crews lost him amongst all the action.

"We had seen that play on a high school film and it kind of stuck out to me because it was so hard to follow the football," Osborne said. "That began to get us on track, and we crawled our way back into the game defensively."

Nebraska eventually lost 31-30 after missing a two-point conversion attempt.